Like a potter shaping clay as it spins on a wheel, physicists use magnetic fields and powerful particle beams to control and shape the plasma as it twists and turns through a fusion device. Now a physicist has created a new system that will let scientists control the energy and rotation of plasma in real time in a doughnut-shaped machine known as a tokamak.

Like a potter shaping clay as it spins on a wheel, physicists use magnetic fields and powerful particle beams to control and shape the plasma as it twists and turns through a fusion device. Now a physicist has created a new system that will let scientists control the energy and rotation of plasma in real time in a doughnut-shaped machine known as a tokamak.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) high-performance computer sites have selected a dynamic fusion code, led by physicist C.S. Chang of the DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), for optimization on three powerful new supercomputers. The PPPL-led code was one of only three codes out of more than 30 science and engineering programs selected to participate in Early Science programs on all three new supercomputers, which will serve as forerunners for even more powerful exascale machines that are to begin operating in the United States in the early 2020s.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) high-performance computer sites have selected a dynamic fusion code, led by physicist C.S. Chang of the DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), for optimization on three powerful new supercomputers. The PPPL-led code was one of only three codes out of more than 30 science and engineering programs selected to participate in Early Science programs on all three new supercomputers, which will serve as forerunners for even more powerful exascale machines that are to begin operating in the United States in the early 2020s.

Physicist Fatima Ebrahimi at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has published a paper showing that magnetic reconnection — the process in which magnetic field lines snap together and release energy — can be triggered by motion in nearby magnetic fields. By running computer simulations, Ebrahimi gathered evidence indicating that the wiggling of atomic particles and magnetic fields within electrically charged gas known as plasma can spark the onset of reconnection, a process that, when it occurs on the sun, can spew plasma into space.

Physicist Fatima Ebrahimi at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has published a paper showing that magnetic reconnection — the process in which magnetic field lines snap together and release energy — can be triggered by motion in nearby magnetic fields. By running computer simulations, Ebrahimi gathered evidence indicating that the wiggling of atomic particles and magnetic fields within electrically charged gas known as plasma can spark the onset of reconnection, a process that, when it occurs on the sun, can spew plasma into space.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) will once again offer a wide variety of cutting-edge science talks as it kicks off its popular Ronald E. Hatcher Science on Saturday Lecture Series for high school students and science lovers of all ages on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 9:30 a.m. at the Laboratory, 100 Stellarator Road, Princeton, New Jersey.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) will once again offer a wide variety of cutting-edge science talks as it kicks off its popular Ronald E. Hatcher Science on Saturday Lecture Series for high school students and science lovers of all ages on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 9:30 a.m. at the Laboratory, 100 Stellarator Road, Princeton, New Jersey.

Stefan Gerhardt, principal research physicist and head of experimental operations on the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has won the Fusion Power Associates 2016 Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award.

Stefan Gerhardt, principal research physicist and head of experimental operations on the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has won the Fusion Power Associates 2016 Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award.